Cody Bollinger’s TUF 18 Fighter Blog Week 3: “Today is a Good Day!”

First off, let me start by saying that for the most part the production team has done a phenomenal job at capturing the overall mood and aspect of the show so far.

You have seen three episodes and only two of those being in the house, so really only 84 minutes of edited show time. Take away the time used for the actual fights themselves and it’s about 60 minutes total. To put that into perspective, they have summed up three weeks into 60 minutes of show time so far and have done well.

Now let’s get down to the good stuff!

A lot of people feel I was unjust in calling out Juliana in the van ride home. The things you didn’t see was the fact that every person besides Roxanne had called her out and the conversation was about more than the fight picks. When I presented the problem to the coaches and my coach Miesha Tate, she said, “That sounds like something she would do!” and based on that I was dead sure it was her.

In the end, I ended up being wrong and then apologized soon after. I guess I learned about editing and showing clips of conversations the hard way, but at the same time, like I stated earlier, they have shown 60 minutes of in-house living over three weeks and already twice it was about the house being annoyed with Juliana, which should speak for itself.

Another part they didn’t feel the need to show is the fact that every fighter chooses two members to go early to the gym on fight day and help them prepare. I had been chosen by almost everyone, and yes that includes Juliana, to go early and help. I carried her bags, held her doors and spoke with a motivational attitude to keep her head straight for the fight. I think they “forgot” to show that part, but oh well. And all jokes aside, I think she is deep down a good person and just didn’t know how to act in the situation; honestly, only a few do. You have to remember we are all new to this and had no clue how to adjust to our new lives.

On to Ronda and Miesha: this is no doubt the biggest rivalry I’ve seen between TUF coaches.

What I keep having to repeat when people ask if it is scripted or all real is that “if I wasn’t there, I would not believe it.” The scene at the bar started for no reason, but when you dislike somebody as badly as they do, you won’t need a real reason to throw down. I found myself in the middle of their argument and quickly stepped back about two feet. Thinking to myself, “Crap! I wore these damn cowboy boots and I know I will fall on my ass if I have to fight. Maybe I can throw a head kick and just hope it lands because the boot tips are lethal!” Hah hah. The things that go on in my head. Of course I was thinking that about the assistant coaches and not the two in the argument.

Another funny story: my poor friend Anthony, aka Sharkbait, had a problem with his mic. Well, not really his mic, but the fact he never remembered to put it on! The poor dude got fined probably three times after 50 warnings from the production crew.

In the end, I think besides the small arguments my team got into sometimes, we kept a great attitude winning or losing. We were always chins up, heads high. The day I fought to get in the house, I woke up and said “today will be a good day” win or lose. Since that day, every day before practice or leaving the house I would say loudly and for others to hear, “Today is a good day people! It may be the worst good day of your life, but its still a good day!” By doing that I’m assuming my team liked it and it helped because about a week in I started hearing them say it and yell it through the house before practice or randomly when someone seemed down or just for no reason. It was really cool and I think a little part of why our team got along so well for the most part.